A/N: A huge thanks to everyone's who's reviewed and alerted this! Thought I'd give my little 'one shot' a good finale. Hope everyone enjoys!
A/N2: For anyone looking for updates on my other stories, I'm not happy to say that I've lost internet conection and some files over the last few weeks. My main focus as of January has been getting into college and this last week especially has been very f-ed up in that I found that the majority of my transcripts were never sent out by my guidance counselor. Soon, however, after I kick some GC ass, I'll get back to my favorite duo and update everything. Thanks for sticking around!
May 2
By: chocolate rules
Disclaimer: Sill wishing and thinking happy thoughts. Still not mine :(
Part Four
So, what does it take to make three highly educated, Stanford elite to quite playing and step out of the pool?
Answer anyone? No?
Well, you and Dean are on the same boat. Hang on!
Three hours later and Dean couldn't help but notice that his kid brother looked all of like a prune. And the other two weren't looking so good either.
Dean understood that this was a rare time in Sammy's young life, but truth be told, he was kinda cold and he wanted to get back. It was nearing the witching hour and for the last eighteen years, Dean had not allowed said kid brother to be outside.
Today, he would make no exceptions.
"Come on, Sammy!" Dean called from his perch besides the pool's ladder.
Sam shook his head and dove in once again, closely followed by Lila. The young girl had taken to Sam better than she had Dean, not that he was jealous mind you. He knew that she'd take care of him.
"SAM!" Dean stomped again as he watched the shadow of his brother swim further into the water.
Looking over to the two other young men, he couldn't believe what he saw.
"Mike! Quit chunking the fishes at Cohen's head, come on guys!"
When it resorted to Dean being the responsible one, he knew that he had to get them out of there.
Tragically, it seemed that only the dolphins were listening to him.
Dean rubbed his towel through his hair. He had no idea what had gotten into those three. Especially Dennis Cohen. That guy had had a stick up his but all night long.
In the past three hours, Dean had managed to achieve his chief mission; he'd made Sammy day.
Not that it wouldn't of been his day anyway, but he'd been able to keep his promise and best of all, he'd made Sammy smile. And there really wasn't mush anything better than that.
Except maybe if they'd get their asses out of the pool and change so that they could leave already!
Sam popped his head back through to the surface. He looked behind him and he could see the beginning of annoyance on his brother's face.
And he smiled.
God, he'd missed him so much. Kinda sucked never really knowing what was up with Dean when he was so freaking far away. He knew that it was his own fault that he was away, but it still sucked that he couldn't tell Dean all about the great classes he was taking and all the cool people he was meeting.
He was really, really glad that his brother had came tonight. He'd never spent a birthday without him, and he wouldn't want to. Dean always had a way to make them special and there was no doubt that this year was no different.
Dolphins! God, he never would have thought of something like this.
Damn, all he'd done for Dean back in January was left some freaking voice mail saying that he'd hoped he hadn't gotten himself killed yet.
"Sa-am," Dean glared at him.
Sam gave him a small smile as he reached forward and began to pet Winston. Winnie had become like Sam's shadow; very much like the real Dean. Ronen must have noted Cohen's distress, because he kept within the kid's reaching distance. Cohen kept a firm grip on Ronen's fin and when they went under the surface of the water, he'd take a deep breath and pinch his nose. Lila proved to be very much like Sam since she loved to be around all of the action. She'd go from Dean to Mike, tag along with Ronen and Cohen, splash Win and then shimmer on back to Dean.
It had been a great night. But, they would really need to get going and now.
The zoo's animal's caregivers would arrive early just before dawn to feed some of the animals and clean out their living quarters.
And they couldn't be found here.
That was part of the deal that Dean had made with the night guard Mandy Wallace. That a few favors here and there because he was Dean. But that wasn't really little brother territory there, so he really didn't need the kid to know about that. Not that it wasn't obvious; because Sam did know Dean. It was just not four am material.
Now, going to bed in a nice warm, dry bed would be his topic of choice at the moment.
"Wh-at," Sam replied in the same tone that Dean had used, with a sly little grin to boast.
"Get your scrawny ass out of the water already!"
"Why?" Sam asked childishly as he flicked some water into Win's opened mouth.
"Well, one because I said so; and two so as to not get caught here!" Dean replied, as he used every whim in him to not jump back in the pool and hauled said scrawny ass out of it himself.
Sam smirked.
"Well, one don't work no more, I'm eighteen now you know. And two, I thought you were like, you know, with the guard," Sam replied, winking at him.
Dean groaned.
"Mandy, yeah. The twenty or so caretakers that are less than an hour away, not so much."
Sam looked down at Winnie, who was nudging him and trying to get him back to play. This time, Sam groaned. He was having fun and he'd forgotten that there would be people who'd have to come back and all that jazz.
He cupped his hand and caused a wave to splash out at Winston; who spat him back.
Sam returned his gaze and let it linger a little on Dean. Finally he nodded and got a nod in return.
"Come on guys, time to get back to reality," Sam told his friend as he swam slowly by them and over to the ladder.
Mike was currently trying to get Ronen to swim faster and into the deepest part of the pool, which was around twenty feet, so that Cohen would freak and lose his grip. He would of course go after his friend, but he'd have a hell of a freak-out first. Scaring the crap out of each other, that's what guys do.
Ronen was smarter than that however and must have been instructing Lila to get Mike since out of nowhere she came by and flipped over him.
Sam shook his head at his friends.
"Whatcha say, Sam?" Cohen asked looking over Ronen's head.
Winston came back to Sam and began to swim circles around him. Clearly he had gotten the feeling that Sam was leaving and he didn't want him to. Win was a pretty stubborn fellow.
Behind him, Dean pulled out a few fishes, hating that he'd have to go and wash up all over again. He began to call Win over to him and soon Sam was free to move again.
Lila too came to the call of fish, since that seemed to be the latest attraction.
As Sam watched the dolphins dine on their fish and Ronen guiding Cohen to the ladder, he was sort of glad that he hadn't of been able to go to that party way back when. Granted, you'd be hard pressed to tell an eight year old Sammy that, but eighteen year old Sam felt all warm inside to be able to do that today.
And to have such an awesome big brother that would not only remember something like that, but go through so much to see it happen.
Sam felt water splash at his face and got dunked into the water again.
"Aghhaph"
"Get on a move, Bday Boy!" Mike said as he released Sam's head and made his way quickly to the ladder a few yards ahead.
Back on the surface, Sam shook his head and growled at his friend before following suit.
When he reached the top of the ladder, Dean quickly wrapped him in a towel and shoved him towards the lockers, muttering all the way about inconsideration and stupidity not seeming to leave at the brink of eighteen.
Sam couldn't do much more than roll his eyes.
Ten minutes later and they were heading back towards the Impala.
"Have a nice swim?" Mandy asked them as they headed to the gates.
Mike and Cohen were startled when she seemed to materialize before them, but Sam and Dean had heard her long before that.
"You tell us," dean said with a smirk as he walked around his brother's friends and leaned over Mandy to give her a parting kiss.
Mandy dually blushed. Once from the kiss and then for seemingly being caught checking them out. And by them, she of course meant Dean.
It had been a month ago when Dean had asked her if he could use the dolphins for a surprise and it was then that she'd learned he had a brother.
One thing about Mandy was that she liked to talk, so that night at that bar, it wasn't that hard for her to slip out that she was the night guard for the zoo. Some guys had cracked some jokes about what would she do if there was ever real trouble, but Dean hadn't given her any grief and then he'd asked her that. At first, she'd thought that he wanted to get laid in a zoo; like "What was your freakiest place?" "Oh, well I did it in a zoo once". And well, there had been that, but then he'd clarified his request and that whole promise story had seemed really sweet that she soon'd said yes.
Dean wrapped his arm tightly arm around her, whispered something to her and then kissed her quickly again before releasing her. When he did, she was no longer blushing and was back to all business.
"Well, gentlemen, I'm glad you had a fun night but I would advise you all to leave immediately so that there shouldn't be any reason for criminal charges."
"We're leaving, but you're gonna miss us," Dean replied winking at her.
Sam groaned and was the first to start walking again to the gates.
Dean caught up with him and wrapped his arm around the younger man's shoulders.
"So?"
Sam looked over at his brother.
"What?"
Dean sighed 'angerily' and smacked the back of Sam's head.
"Ah, hey!" retorted Sam as he reached up to his head and rubbed at it.
Dean smirked. He tightened his arm around Sam.
"Have a good night?"
Sam shoved away from his brother.
"Yeah. You're a great jerk of a brother!" Sam replied with his own smirk.
Dean brought his now free arm over his heart, feigning pain.
"That hurts, little brother. Next time, ill take you to the circus instead!"
Sam turned horrified eyes to his brother. And punched him when he saw the older man on the brink of laughter. And then Dean laughed.
"Dude! You should've seen your face just now! Man, I've gotten get me a camera," Dean said as he tugged the front gates opened.
Dean slowed the Impala and stopped in front of Sam's apartment building. He had already woken Mike and Cohen up and had gotten them each to their building. He'd made sure that they had gotten into the building before he peeled off.
Sam was curled around himself, settled into a position that Dean had known him often to find comfortable. Even when he grew into his frame, Sam could still get into that position.
Dean reached over and passed his hand through Sammy's soft tufts. Sam sighed in his sleep and settled again, leaning into Dean's touch.
Dean smiled, he missed this. He missed having the kid near him.
It was weird to think about how much calmer he felt, how at home he felt, just having Sammy by him again. He hadn't thought that he wasn't feeling these things before, but he definitely felt it when Sam was by him.
And he knew that Sam felt the same way. Otherwise, he wouldn't have fallen asleep in the car. He would've felt unsure and been looking out every window the whole way back had he been with anyone else.
That's what he had been taught to do. To be suspicious and not to trust other people with their destination. Know where you're going before you get there. Take control when things aren't going accordingly.
With Dean, Sam knew that he wasn't in any trouble. He could just let go and give into his exhaustion.
Like Mike and Cohen had.
Dean had shaken his head when he had noticed that not even ten minutes after pulling out of the zoo, the duo in the backseat had found no trouble in falling to sleep. He was sure that if they were every in a bad position, well they better hope that Sam was there with them otherwise they wouldn't make it very far.
Dean sifted his hand through the unruly brown hair again. It was still baby soft and clean. Dean'd always liked Sammy's hair. It had kept the younger boy just that much more innocent.
He allowed himself a few more minutes of silence, just watching his brother. He listened to Sammy breathing and found that he was breathing in time with him. Or was Sam breathing in time with him?
Lynyrd Skynyrd starting playing Simple Man as Dean settled back into his seat. By now, Sam was pretty much on his shoulder and Dean's constant petting was keeping them both calm. Dean recalled so many others of Sam's birthdays as he heard the song, and couldn't help to think that Sam couldn't of have turned out any better.
When he was turning two, their father had taken them to a local carnival and it was there that they'd learned of the baby's fear of clowns. Dean had spent the whole day covering the toddler's eyes every time that a clown was in sight.
At the age of five, Sammy had been in school and was devastated that he couldn't bring in a cake like all the other kids. Dean had pulled some money together and had gotten him a package of Oreos instead. He'd left during his lunch period to buy them from the store a block away and had spent the rest of the day in Sammy's class. Granted, his teacher hadn't been too pleased, but his dad had said that he'd done a very nice thing for his brother and every year since, the brothers had shared an Oreo pack together. Except this year.
At the age of eight, Sammy had really wanted those dolphins, but ten years is better than nothing.
Dean went through all of Sam's stages; recalling when he'd learned to talk and the first time he'd walked into his arms. He recalled having to read about five books about a million times and them never seeming to lose their magic on the boy. He recalled the first lose tooth and scaring the crap out of a six year old Sammy with tails of an old fairy that sneaks into your house to take back your teeth. He recalled the awkward teenage years that were still very much present and still had the effect of chills down his spine.
He programmed in Sammy's carefree ease and hypnotic laugh as Dean and he wrestled in the pool. Recalled how quickly Sam took to the water; both when he was four and learning to swim and tonight with the dolphins. How they'd tricked his friends along all the way; literally tossing Cohen in the water. How full of life and promise his baby brother's eyes had. Have.
This day too would be remembered.
"Sammy," Dean whispered down into the mop of hair. "Hey, little man, wake up."
Sam shook his head no. He turned away from Dean's voice and buried his face against Dean's chest.
"Yo, Sammy, come on. You've got to get some hours of sleep in, remember." Dean told him.
Sam groaned, coming to a little.
"no"
Dean smirked. He passed his fingers again through Sam's hair.
"Well, you do. You're a man now. Gotta keep up with your responsibilities and whatnot."
"no"
Dean gave Sam a small shake and asked him again to wake up.
"Dude, I can't haul your ass up them steps. Ain't happening little brother."
"stay"
"You can't stay, Sam. You've got things to do. Classes, work, remember?"
Sam nodded against Dean's chest, still refusing to 'wake up'.
"You. Stay."
"What?"
Now Sam did twist around enough that he could see his brother's face and that Dean could look at his.
"Come up to my room and stay the night," pleaded Sam.
To Dean, he looked all of ten years old and he smiled besides himself.
"Whoa, little brother, slow down. Don't really flow that way."
Sam could see the smirk on Dean's face but really didn't have the energy to do anything other than groan against Dean's chest.
"Jerk. Stay the night; I don't wantcha out this late. You should be exhausted. Please?"
"Sammy, I can't," Dean started. However, Sammy really wasn't in the mode for a negative answer and it was still kid of his birthday and he didn't want his brother to leave. At least not until morning after some breakfast and making him promise to call.
"Dude, it's my birthday. And!" Sam added as he sat up. He poked Dean's chest and tried to shot an accusing glance his way. "I believe someone owes me some Oreos."
Dean laughed. He reached over and ruffled Sam's unruly hair. He'd just been thinking the same thing.
"Bitch. Fine, just tonight. And don't think that you'll be getting far with me; I like to take things slow. And don't expect any gifts from me either birthday boy."
Dean opened his door and heard Sam groan behind him. Locking his door, he went around and got a sleepy Sammy out of the Impala and stable before he made sure his girl was safe for the night. Then he led his brother home.
End.
On May 2nd, Im planning to have a birthday party :D Guess for who! LoL. My friends and I will probably stuff ourselves with dounuts (DD!!!) and rewatch Supernatural! Yeah, obessed little fangirl here!
And proud!!
Ok, so, hope you enjoyed, drop me a line, and enjoy the sunshine!